I’m writing in response to Jerry Metz’s letter on Jan. 11. I don’t remember 50 million aborted fetuses — I remember 50 million aborted babies. He suggests if these babies were allowed to live, they would end up being criminals. The real crimes are being committed at abortion mills like the Mabel Wadsworth Women’s Health Center and Planned Parenthood. They don’t do this out of the kindness of their hearts to help women. There is money to be made — and blood money, at that. They sell their products to drug companies, research companies, etc.

The drug companies use aborted baby cell lines to make childhood shots. They have been doing this for years. I don’t think very many parents know what is being injected into their kids. Kids are getting a lot more shots than they once did. There was a problem a few years back when cows were being fed other cow body parts resulting in mad cow disease. What’s going to happen to the kids who have been injected with these shots a few years down the road? Imagine, aborted baby parts being injected into your kids.

Abortion is not a humane procedure. A lot of babies don’t die right away. The abortionists should have the decency to give these babies something for their pain before they kill them. Mr. Metz says these babies are unwanted. Untrue. They are wanted by the people who would love to adopt them.

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Janice Bodwell

Kenduskeag

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TV, radio days

It has been several months now since the public has been forced to start using the converter box on their television sets. During that time many of us have not been able to receive the public television station, Channel 12, or NBC, Channel 2. These two stations do not seem to care that a large number of people no longer have access to watch them. I would not want to be someone who is paying for advertising on Channel 2, NBC.

This is going to leave many of us without any television viewing. There are many places in Maine like Bradford that do not even have access to cable service. Yes, there are other options ranging from $30 to $100 plus each month. Actually that is not an option for many people who are living on a fixed income.

In reality there is not much on regular television to watch. The writers today cannot write a story unless it is filled with violence and sex. Even the so-called comedy shows center around some form of perverted sex.

Hopefully channel 5 and 7 will remain on the air and free to their many viewers. These are the only two stations I am able to receive now. Before the converter I received 2,5,7, 12 and even a station from New Brunswick.

Yes, I do remember the days before television. The radio had some great half-hour story programs, where one could use their imagination to visualize what was going on. A couple of my favorites were “Boston Blackie” and “The Lone Ranger.”

Ted Bragdon

Bradford

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Borrow from the best

The health insurance bills before Congress make failure to purchase insurance a federal crime — and all to protect the profit margins of the insurance companies who, as Rep. Anthony Weiner points out, add “no value” to the transaction.

The health care bills should be scrapped, and Congress should start over. When they do, they should look to the experience of countries that are delivering better health outcomes at half our per capita cost. If you want a centrist solution, look to Canada’s single payer system. If you want a left solution, look to the UK’s National Health Service, which is socialized. We should be able to surrender ideological prejudices and look at the evidence, like any doctor would do.

When we do, we will see that our uniquely American system of health care for profit is doing uniquely badly, and should be replaced with a system that works.

Sam Hunting

Orono

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High cost of defense

I worry about the cost of health care. But I am furious over the cost of so-called defense. I call it the cost of aggression: U.S. defense-aggression spending protects the interests of the huge corporations that control our sold-to-the-highest-bidder democracy. The generals talk about the proper “counterinsurgency” strategies. I still haven’t heard a good reason for being in Iraq and Afghanistan in the first place. Why are we fighting these wars?

Why do we have army bases all over the world, as many as 700? The cost of defense-aggression is about 40 percent of our budget, somewhere between 517 and 623 billion dollars. The cost of defense-aggression is about $1.5 billion dollars a day. We could use most of that money on health care instead.

We use depleted uranium in the bombs we drop in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The birth defect rate has skyrocketed. The pictures of these deformed children are too offensive for a family newspaper. You can Google them if you want. But the real offense is that the U.S. uses depleted uranium at all.

President Obama said he will give $100 million to the Haitians to help them recover. In 2009, the U.S. spent about $400 million a day in Iraq and Afghanistan, four times as much in one day, as he will give to Haiti for this horrendous disaster.

Look at what we do, not the nice things we say. We care more about killing people and blasting babies than helping people.

Jane McCloskey

Deer Isle

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A simpler fix

After perusing the current state of health care in our country, I have found that costs are too high and there are too many people that don’t have health insurance. Health insurance is not mandatory for all people, but I do think it should be an attainable commodity for the great majority of the population.

Right now, each person is stuck shopping for health care in his own state. To increase competition amongst insurance companies, people should be able to look beyond their state borders for better deals on health insurance. Also, currently, employers are offered tax deductions when providing health insurance to their employees. A type of these tax deductions could be expanded to everybody as an incentive to go out and get health insurance for themselves.

Finally, it can be assumed that anywhere from 10 percent to 20 percent of health care costs come from defensive tactics, like malpractice insurance for doctors. Any sort of reform that deals with the medical malpractice laws will help bring down costs tremendously.

Our current system gives us a great quality of care, speed of care, and gives people the choice of what plan and doctor they want to go to.

Those should be the key issues. The answer to this problem doesn’t always have to be “We need government run health care.” By slightly reforming the free market system we have now, costs will go down and more people will be able to afford health insurance.